With the Distance Amplified
by Unstoppable Cyborg
Summary: AU: After the battle with Zarkon, Katie disappeared from the Black Lion. A couple months later, the paladins receive a distress signal from the Black Lion, and find a group of prisoners that she rescued; one of them happened to have flown her to Kerberos. Background Kidge; Shiro and Keith are former foster siblings. Age Swap!AU/Paladin Swap!AU. Discontinued.
1. And Now the Silence Screams

**A/N: Man, it's been a long time since I posted here.**

 **This AU was originally thought of by sabertoothwalrus on tumblr.**

 **Random stuff that happens but isn't really talked about in this fic: Katie is 22 [EDIT: I did my math wrong]; Matt is soon to be 19, Lance, and Hunk are 18, and depending on whom you ask Shiro is either 14 or 3.5. Keith is technically 24, but due to alien biology they're actually closer to 21 in age. Allura is whatever the Altean equivalent of 19 is. Keith uses both he/him and they/them pronouns; Katie uses she/her pronouns. Katie is the Black Paladin, Shiro the Red Paladin (who flies Black), Matt is the Green Paladin (who flies Red), Hunk currently flies Green, and Lance currently flies Yellow. Project Kuron is not a thing here. Nor is the Guns of Gamara universe.**

 **Both chapter title and fic title come from "Frequency" by Starset.**

* * *

"I hope that was effective enough for them," Matt said as he slumped in his chair in front of the dinner table. They had done another Voltron event, which had been packed. Unfortunately, this had also attracted the Galra. The Robeast that they had fought had, in addition to way too much armor, a rather annoying power that the other ones had had for the past couple of weeks. It was similar to the Kromar device, in that it was able to manipulate the quintessence of the paladins. That had made the battles even more tiring than they had been, what with Katie being gone and Lotor's games of cat and mouse.

He stared at the food goo on his plate, trying not to fall asleep. He was tired, but he still had several hours of programming to do. More modification of algorithms, fine tuning to find his family and Keith. There were also the various projects he had been working on, although many of them were probably going to have to be pushed aside, other than the documentation of Lotor's tactics. Matt was just glad that, so far, they hadn't had to fight Lotor and a Robeast at the same time.

"We fought a giant monster in front of them, and didn't get too beat up in the meantime!," Lance said. "We always look great, but in that case we looked even -"

"-Meet me in the control room!" Shiro said rather suddenly, bolting from his chair.

"Wait, what? We just sat down," Hunk said. "Is this an emergency? If not, can we please wait until _after_ dinner?"

"Black's sending me a signal," Shiro called over the shoulder. "Something along the lines of 'old paladin attack base danger'?" The other paladins stood up for their chairs and began to follow him. "That means that either Zarkon is doing something bad enough to get her attention, or Katie is…" He turned around and shrugged.

"Are you getting any coordinates? If so, I can start a wormhole," Allura said.

"Um, one tic." Shiro turned around as he bit his lip in concentration. "Okay, so Black isn't sending me the coordinates, but she's going to send them to Blue, who will send them to you."

Once suited up, Hunk pulled up the scanners. "Okay, so we don't have any new transmissions from the Blade, so either this is sudden or they haven't been able to get any leaks."

"I have the coordinates from Blue," Allura said. "We'll be wormholing to an area that is approximately half a xaral away. If it's Zarkon, I don't want to be led into a trap."

It was a quick jump, only a few doboshes, which led them to a star with four gas giants orbiting it. The second one from the star, while it didn't have any rings, did have several moons that looked to be only slightly smaller than the planet Mars. The smallest of those moons, upon closer look, had metal plating on one of its sides as if it had been built up to be a base.

"Shiro, is that moon our target?" Matt asked, barely sitting in his chair.

"So I, erm, we still don't know what the nature of this is," Shiro said as he stood up and faced the team. "Everyone, get to your lions, but _be careful_. And Matt, well, sort of. Part of me really gets the feeling that that's no moon." The elder Paladin groaned at the reference as he jogged to the entrance of the Red Lion's hangar.

"Are you sure?" Allura said as she pulled her hair up. "According to its chemical makeup and overall structure, it seems like a natural satellite of the planet."

"We are definitely going to make a detour to Earth after this and watch Star Wars," Lance said.

"Hunk, Allura, scan the base for architecture and biosignatures," Shiro said when they departed the Castle of the Lions. The Blue lion let out one of its sonic blasts, and the Green lion paused as its' eyes seemed to grow more of a yellow-green.

"It seems fairly simple," Allura said hurriedly. "It's pretty much uniform, in fact. Just hallways and small rooms. Anything from Black?"

"Nothing new."

"Katie? You there?" Lance asked as he opened a com to her helmet.

"Knowing the Galra, they probably wouldn't leave her with her helmet," Allura said.

"Aside from for torture purposes," Matt said. He gripped the handles like they were kitchen knives, as if he could just reach out and stab the druids like they were slabs of meat.

"I've got twenty or so lifeforms; most of them are heading towards the eastern side," Hunk said. "I think Green's scanners are broken or something, though. They're saying that there's half a Galra, one and nine twentieths of humans, and a whole lot of Alteans."

"Doesn't matter," Shiro said. "We still have to -"

"Kates, don't!" a voice called out as the Paladins heard the sound of wind. All of this was highly distorted by static.

The Black lion's incessant thoughts went silent.

A single ship streaked out from the base. It was small, and beat up looking, but it was clearly Galra.

Matt fired Red's main laser just behind the ship as a warning shot.

"Voltron, do'ya read us?" a different voice said. "If so, could'ya stop shooting at us?"

"Guys, that's Katie's comm," Lance said.

"How did you get my sister's frequency?" Matt said. While he trained Red's lasers on the ship, he didn't fire.

"I'm sorry, Matt," the first voice cut in. Their voice was somewhat familiar, and it had a slight rasp to it, as if they weren't used to talking. "The Druids took her before we could get out. She gave us her helmet so we could contact you."

Shiro licked his lips. It took a couple of tries before he could form words due to how familiar the first voice. "Do you know if there were any other prisoners left on the base?"

"They've beyond helping," the second voice said. "They've practically Robeasts themselves. In the non-thinking way, not the power way."

"We're going to escort you to the Castle of the Lions," Shiro said. "There we can get you healed. Um, how many of you are there?"

"Four," the first voice said.

Matt opened a private comm. "Guys, I know it's petty since they're prisoners, but I don't trust the first of the two that spoke. I don't like how he knew my name."

"Maybe Ka… maybe she said something about you?" Lance said.

"Hunk said there were _Alteans_ on that ship," Allura said. "We have to go after them!"

"Not to mention that they _have my sister_."

"We're too late," Shiro said. "Black's gone quiet; she did so when that guy screamed out her, well, maybe it's a nickname?"

"Um, actually, guys? They're gone," Hunk cut in before Allura could go and attempt to rescue the multitude of Alteans.

"What do you mean, _they're gone_?" Allura asked.

"I dunno, it's like they disappeared or something? Maybe they teleported, like with a Teleduv! Either way, they're not showing up on Green's scanners."

"Let's get back to the castle and help the prisoners she freed," Shiro said, ignoring the general feeling of dissatisfaction that everyone, including himself, felt.

When the ships landed in the main hangar, Coran was already there. "I brought a stretcher, in case any of them was unable to walk. Of course, I wouldn't have minded them saying so, but I'll cut them some slack."

The first of the aliens to stumble out of the Galra pod reminded Hunk of the gray-skinned gladiator they had met back on Arus The second looked like they were the child of an Unilu and a Balmeran with some platypus thrown into the mix. The third had six eyes and was very tall, tall enough that Hunk worried that they might not fit in the healing pods. Ve helped the fourth of the prisoners walk.

The fourth prisoner was probably the half Galra that Green had picked up, with their batlike purple ears and their lilac clawed hands, one of which was pressed against their side. They had long, purple-black hair that seemed to make their already pale skin paler. Their eyes were downcast and haunted; one was entirely gold while the other had a white sclera, black pupil, and violet iris.

Shiro stepped out of his lion and found it hard to maintain a leaderly gait rather than run up and wrap his arms around them. "Keith?"


	2. Light Years from You

**So, protip: don't take four AP classes as well as a Senior Project class. Especially if one of those classes happens to be AP Lit.**

 **Chapter** **title comes from "Telescope" by Starset.**

 **AU belongs to sabertoothwalrus; _Voltron Legendary Defender_ to Studio Mir, Dreamworks, and Netflix.**

 **EDIT: Once again, I am bad at figuring out years. It doesn't affect the plot, but there is a mild change near the end of the chapter.  
**

* * *

Dark purple lightning arced from the fingers of a Druid that Katie thought someone had shot, and then she felt an all too familiar push on her prosthetic. She was glad that most of her weight had been on it because at least then she could use her right leg to stabilize herself. She heard a crackle of static in her ear. Whatever spell the Druid had used, it wasn't an EMP. It had only affected her prosthetic; not her armor and definitely not her helmet.

"Katie? You there?" Lance said as she shifted her weight onto her left leg as best she could. So the Black Lion had finally found her. She frowned. Escape and home were so close, and yet she was firmly rooted to the ground with Druids fast approaching.

She yanked her helmet off of her head; there was information on it that could help the paladins. Maybe Matt and Hunk could decrypt what she hadn't gotten around to and find her dad. Too bad it also meant that they might hear the recordings that she had wanted to go back and edit so that her emotions wouldn't be on full display.

The tallest of the three aliens who hadn't turned on her and Keith was now specifically holding them back within the pod. Despite not having spoken in more than a year, he still knew her way too well.

"Use this to contact Voltron!" she said, kicking off with her left leg to give her helmet every ounce of starting momentum that she could.

"Kates, don't!" Keith pleaded as she threw the helmet. It was too late, though. She was already falling, the force of the throw too much for her unbalanced body. She hit the ground.

After the helmet crossed through the doors, the airlock of the ship closed. Katie lifted her head to see it fly away.

She was then yanked to her feet by bony hands. She bowed her head with a small smile, white and brown hair forming a shield between the world and her eyes. They would be okay. That was all that really mattered to her when the Druids teleported away.

She focused on that thought when the Druids alerted Haggar to their presence.

They would be okay. Whether or not she would be didn't matter. Keith would be okay, Shiro would have their foster sibling back, and the others would have closure. The rest didn't matter. She couldn't let it matter.

Especially not when Haggar once again called her Champion.

* * *

Keith looked up at Shiro slowly, the gold in their eye twisting, shrinking, and dimming until they were no longer heterochromic. In addition, some of the purple fur receded, but this only made them look paler. "Shiro?" they rasped before closing their eyes. Prior to today, it had been so long since they had heard their name. It had been so long since they had actually spoken rather than just make pained noises, and it had been a long time since even that. Their head began to feel hot with the feeling of being close to fainting or a panic attack, probably fainting. They hadn't had that much experience with shifting their body between human and galra, or at least not in their memorable lifespan. Now, especially with their recent blood loss, they were pretty sure the only thing keeping them conscious was a rapidly depleting store of adrenaline.

Shiro attempted to wipe away the beginnings of tears away from his eyes as he nearly ran towards Keith, but paused midway. They were injured, and given his poor ability when it came to medical situations he'd only make things worse.

"Um, hi, my name is Shiro," he introduced himself with a wobbling voice. "I'm the acting leader of Voltron, um, the guy with the mustache is Coran, he'll show you to our healing pods." Hopefully that sounded natural, and not like the kid who was playing at being leader like he still felt like sometimes.

The group began to walk away, though Lance lingered at the back. "Hey, Matt," he said. The oldest of their old lunch quartet hadn't started walking at all. "Are you going to be okay?"

Matt turned to him. "I'll be fine," he said with a softness that hadn't been there a year ago. "I just need some time alone right now. Call me when the mission briefing starts." Lance gave him a thumbs up and a sad smile before walking away.

"Are you kidding me, Katie?" Matt said to no one as he entered the ship, where several bags laid in the corner. "When will you learn that you're not an army?" As he walked into the ship, his foot brushed up against something. Matt looked down to where her helmet lay abandoned. He picked it up and cradled it in the place where it would be if she were hugging him.

 _"Since I don't know what the date or time is, I'm going to say right now is Day 1, time 00:00; I'll be using military time,"_ Katie's voice said from the helmet.

Matt dropped the helmet, stifling a shriek.

* * *

Keith was half Galra. That was what the pod displayed on the diagnostics that were trying to calibrate for species. It wasn't taking as long as it had when Lance had been blown up, but it still was taking longer than Shiro had liked. He didn't really understand why they displayed that; was it possible that the Druids could change someone's species? Was that why Green had only said that Katie was 90% human? Then again, she had also said there were Alteans. Shiro would have to ask Hunk. Technically, Matt was better at bio stuff, but he was also more emotionally volatile at the moment.

Shiro gave one last glance at the timer on Keith's pod before exiting the room. They would be in there longer than the other aliens (all of whom had been able to fit, thankfully) due to prior blood loss, as well as any injuries they had received from both the escape and from fainting on the way to the pods.

"Hey, guys? Can you meet me in the lab?" Matt's voice said from the coms, sounding surprisingly chipper for someone who had been complaining about being somewhat tired prior to coming close to finding his sister, only to lose her again. Even if Shiro wasn't leader and already planning on checking up with the team, that would be good cause to check on Matt.

He arrived at the lab at around the same time as Allura, and had to practically shove his way through to see Katie's helmet hooked up to Matt's computer. On the screen, there was a line as well as a display for the time.

"Katie recorded a message, or rather, a series of messages," Matt said. "Maybe we can figure something out from them.

"I still need to land the ship," Allura said. "Let's end when we reach Olkarion."

After murmurs of agreement, Matt pressed play.

 _"Since I don't know what the date or time is, I'm going to say right now is Day 1, time 00:00; I'll be using military time since that's easier to keep track of. I set things up so that if anyone holds the face, er, opening of my helmet to paladin armor and either my head isn't in it or I'm in some state where I can't speak, the playback will start._ _"Like I said, I don't know where or when I am, so I'm just going to start from the top. My name is Katie Miranda Holt, and last I checked I'm twenty-two years old. I'm from the planet Earth, and I'm the Paladin of the Black Lion of Voltron." She paused._

 _"So the last thing I remember is fighting Zarkon."_ A second pause, this time shorter. _"Specifically, a giant robot version of Zarkon."_ Underneath the panic and awkwardness, she sounded incredulous, as if she still couldn't believe the event had actually happened. _"Um, Robeast Zarkon? I unlocked the Black Lion's teleportation ability, and was able to steal the Black Bayard. Reclaim it? Is it really stealing when Black decided I was the better choice of Paladin?"_ Shiro winced; she sounded so confident in her bond (or at least the most confident since the recording had started) and what had he done? Usurped it in her absence. Black hadn't seemed to mind it, but what about her Paladin?

 _"Anyway, we were able to make a giant flaming sword when all five of us placed our Bayards in our lions, which im-"_ she said, before pausing. For a few moments, the only noise in the room was her shaking breath. _"Zarkon's robot was stabbed," she said, sounding distant like she usually did after a flashback or while dissociated. "He tried to take me down with him by using the bond between him, me, and Black. I guess it was too much for me, because Black sent me to the astral plane, this time without a physical body as an anchor or anything. I don't know how long I spent there, but it was long enough to change me. Both in the way that Black meant I guess, and in a way that is way too similar to the last time I came back from space. A lot of my hair is white now, not just the streak. What I can see of it, anyways. It's still rather short._ _This planet has a breathable atmosphere and a nice and sturdy, erm I think that's a hollowed out tree that maybe Matt and the Green Lion will find me in, so I'm going to attempt to sleep. Hope the armor is bug repellent. You'd think that after not having a physical body for so long, you wouldn't be tired."_

"Pause!" Lance shouted. Matt stopped the recording, and turned to look at him. "Sorry, but did anyone understand what she was talking about during that last bit? Like, before she started talking about whether or not she could survive. Or maybe the new body thing too?"

"While I wouldn't be surprised if the Black Lion cooked something like that up, I haven't ever heard of it," Coran said. "Things would certainly be easier if Black would just get rid of Zarkon's physical body."

"I'm sure she'll explain it later in the recording," Matt said as he turned back to his computer.

"And hopefully she doesn't cram her explanation with quantum theory," Lance grumbled.

 _"Day 1, time 09:42. I feel more rested than I did a few hours ago. Time to try and find food and water, since I don't know how long it will take Black to find me. I hope it isn't too long._

 _"Day 1, time 12:26. It's getting dark; the planet appears to have two lunar masses. I wish I knew the stars here. Even though I didn't know the exact constellations on Kerberos, I knew the stars and planets well enough to be able to find my way…"_ She trailed off, before speaking in a flatter, more monotone voice. _"Find my way to Earth, even without just pointing myself at the Sun, despite it seeming like a perfectly valid option. Thanks, Keith._

 _"Day 2, time 07:58. Sunrise. I think this planet doesn't operate on a twenty-four hour system. So glad my suit has a clock. Still haven't gotten in contact with Black._

 _"Day 3, time 14:46. While I'm glad we stocked up on ration bars, half of one a day isn't cutting it as well as I thought it would. I mean, I'll be fine for now, and it's going better than I thought it would. Besides,"_ She paused, and then said darkly, _"somehow, I doubt they fed me well in the Arena. I survived it once, I'll survive similar circumstances._

 _"Day 4, time 02:54. I'm alive, and really want to edit this when I get home. Yesterday was uncalled for."_ And there was that old attempt at being a wise, totally-not-affected by her PTSD leader. Somehow, Hunk had thought that she had stopped that mindset.

 _"Day 4, time 21:46. For all that Black said that she wanted to protect me when she asked to modify my body, I really feel like I got punted onto a random jungle planet. Am I being too picky? Probably, but I'm hungry._

 _"Day 5, time 06:05. I found fruit. Well, since it looks like Earth fruits I'm calling them fruit. One's a giant blue strawberry, which is edible, but really bland. There's also one that looks like a banana but tastes like a pineapple. Well, at least I won't starve. Glad the suit has these bags,"_ she said, referring to the bags Hunk and Shiro had used that one time to gather scaultrite.

 _"Day 5, time 7:92. Am I dying or is it just indigestion?_ _"Day 5, time 15:37. Not dead yet. I'm going to try one fruit at a time._ _"Day 5, time 17:28. I think I'm allergic to the pine-bananas. Quiznak._

 _"Day 6, time 12:39. If I ever get back to Earth, I think I'm going to go to therapy._

 _"Day 7, time 21:24. I think my near-lack of a sleep schedule is adjusting to this planet, which means that when I get back to the Castle things will be… hectic. Well, assuming that I didn't get dishonorably discharged for disappearing in the middle of battle. Already got that from the Garrison, I bet." Lance cringed, remembering the team's last twenty-four hours on Earth._

 _"Day 8, time 14:52. Is that a skyscraper? Or am I seeing mirages? I seriously doubt it's a flashback, given that as far as I know I spent the entirety of Hell-year either in the Arena, in a cell, or with Haggar and I really doubt any of those were on a planet._

 _"Day 8, time 15:34. I found a city, and it turns out that the skyscraper is a database for the Galra. I am so glad that there are easily-hacked maps. Maybe I can hack into it?_

 _"Day 9, time 13:06." Katie's voice was shaking and fast. "Or rather, January 26, 2115, if I'm doing my calculations correctly. Quiznak, it's been three months. I really need to edit this; it's not like the team needs to hear all that."_ Matt gripped the edges of his chair. This had been recorded not even a week ago.

 _"Hunk, Matt, if you're hearing this then Happy Birthday. But that's… well, I guess it's important." A wince was shared by the two young men in question. "It's just not what I found in the Galra skyscraper. There were prisoner records, and -"_

"Pause," Allura said. "I need to land the ship soon."

"Can she finish her sentence?" Shiro asked.

"Twenty ticks maximum." Everyone knew how Katie could get when she rambled.

 _"- I found Keith."_


	3. An Apology

**I would like to apologize. I will not be continuing this story. However, please take this outline.**

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

The prisoners reveal that Keith was kept in an isolation cell, and imply that there's something wrong with them. However, there is the chance that this is due to mistrust of them for being mixed species. According to the pod readout, they were low on blood and had an ankle injury that was about 20 months old.

Katie is alone in a prisoner cell, and is tense. She regrets growing out her hair, since it had been a liability for her in the arena, and she doesn't know what will be done to her.

The paladins train, and then listen to the rest of her recording. Katie states that she is at fault for the fate of the Kerberos mission, surprising everyone because she never seemed to indicate this before. However, this is only after she indicates a sense of worry that Keith being half Galra would have anything to do with this.

 **Chapter Four**

Keith wakes up, and is immediately terrified, especially of Allura and Coran. Shiro is able to calm him down, and they are more visibly calm when not around Alteans or any medical scents. This is due to having experienced medical torture and also that the Druids are Altean.

Keith tells Shiro of their rescue. Katie came to their cell, and when they tried to admit that they were half Galra she asked them how long they had known. She had been relieved to learn that they didn't know about this until after Kerberos, and then asked if they would be able to stop to rescue the rest of the prisoners. A large amount of said prisoners turned on them, slowing the group down and further injuring Keith. Katie begged for the Black Lion to come to her. The druids caught up, and Katie sacrificed herself while giving them her helmet.

Shiro then asks them what Katie meant when she said the Kerberos Mission was her fault. Keith is horrified but doesn't know what she means. They also reveal that they thought it had been their fault. They are adamant about this being due to them being unable to fly Katie and Sam to safety and is _not_ a result of their species.

Haggar prepared a special concoction of Quintessence for use on the Champion.

 **Chapter Five**

A robeast attacks. Keith is revealed to have a connection to this particular line of robeasts. The robeasts have the ability to manipulate Quintessence, and so does Keith. Keith is able to turn the tide of the battle, but is in severe battle as they do so.

Katie was not the robeast that was sent after Voltron. Rather, the Quintessence that Haggar attempted to use on her was Zarkon's Quintessence.

Zarkon is revealed to have attempted to take over Katie's body, which is why the Black Lion sent her to the Astral Plane. She is now immune to it.

However, she is not immune to Haggar controlling her using her prosthetic leg. Haggar mentions that Katie was foolish to not take out the control mechanisms nor the bomb embedded in there. However, Katie also didn't let the others look at the innards of her prosthetic much.

 **Chapter Six**

Keith, Coran, and the paladins are helping out at a planet when a miniature robeast coffin touches down. This coffin doesn't have a robeast, but rather Katie. She carries a sword, and has sheared off a large amount of her hair with it.

Katie believes that she's in the Arena, but the paladins reach out to her via the Astral Plane. They convince her that what she's seeing isn't real, and she's able to break through Haggar's control.

Katie has just enough time to warn them about the bomb in her leg and attempt to shield them from it when it goes off.

Keith and Allura are able to stabilize her via Quintessence.

 **Chapter Seven**

The pods can't regrow limbs, and Katie is missing her prosthetic. In addition, there was severe nerve damage to her other leg that the pod couldn't heal. Coran explains to her that it'll be a relatively long time before she can walk again, and gives her the Altean equivalent of a wheelchair.

There is some tension between Katie and the rest of the Paladins, especially Katie and Shiro. However, they're mostly just happy to see her.

Keith and Katie talk about their relationship. Katie reveals that she has been feeling guilty about not picking up evidence of the Galra on her scanners, even though they have FTL travel and thus she wouldn't have been _able_ to have picked up a signal. They're eventually able to come to a consensus that what happened on Kerberos wasn't either of their faults, even though that strips them of autonomy over their situation.

 **Epilogue**

The paladins minus Katie take Green to do some spy work. This is at least a couple weeks after she lost her prosthetic.

The paladins get caught and both Hunk and Matt are knocked out. Due to this, they won't be able to fly back.

Katie, for the first time since she got back to the Castle of the Lions, goes to the Black Lion's hangar. She asks Black not to leave her stranded again, and teleports three times. First to the paladins, and there is some tension with Shiro over who flies the lion. Second is to the Green Lion, and then finally she teleports back to the Castle.

Katie is able to leave the Black Lion without being stranded on the Astral Plane again, for which she is thankful.

 **Sequel: Take My Hand**

Takes place several months after "With the Distance Amplified" , in which Katie has been able to gain a new prosthetic and also access her Bayard. In the first chapter the team attempts to free Shiro from some rubble he was trapped under, only to find out that he lost his right arm in the process. In the second chapter, Shiro adjusts to only having one hand. He's finally able to resolve some of his issues with Katie over co-leadership, mainly because she asks him to talk to her not as a co-leader, commanding officer, or rival for the Black Lion, but rather as a fellow amputee.

* * *

 **In addition, I will be uploading an unfinished version of the third chapter. I would like to thank everyone who supported me in this endeavor. After seeing the outline, if you would like to rewrite this story I would be honored. Please just give credit to me and sabertoothwalrus of tumblr for the idea.**


	4. The Unfinished Third Chapter

**To ShyFoolDoll, I would like to thank you so much for supporting this story. It meant a lot to me, and I'm sorry that I didn't finish it. In this fanfiction, I portrayed Keith as agender. This chapter has not been edited at all since last May.**

* * *

In all honesty, no one had expected her to actually finish her sentence so quickly. Everyone was used to Katie going off on tangential run-ons whenever she was nervous or excited, so when she stopped there was a dull silence that was only broken by Allura walking away.

"Of course she had to stop at the good part," Shiro grumbled.

Katie tucked her hair into the collar of the prisoner jumpsuit she had been forcibly changed into. It was long enough to lay flat against the nape of her neck and poke into her tensed shoulders. It was getting too long. Tucking her hair away wasn't a foolproof way of keeping it from getting pulled, but it was the best she had until she was given a blade or other implement of cutting it off. Worst came to worst, she could probably figure out a way of cutting it off with her foot or rip it out of her head. However, she was still unable to move her leg, and she didn't want to have to inflict any pain upon herself.

She had already gotten herself nearly killed once because she had chosen to keep her hair long despite losing her bobby pins. Another Arena fighter had grabbed one of her braids and nearly snapped her neck with it. She had had to cut it off, and had then started cutting her hair off. Should the Galra try to force her into another Arena, she would have to cut her hair off.

 **Katie hates waiting for her doom.**

"Hi, this is Shiro, pilot of the Black Lion of Voltron. Just wanted to tell you that we have proof of Katie having survived the battle with Zarkon, but she was captured by Druids in the past varga. Should the Blade of Marmora find any information on this subject, it would be greatly appreciated if you sent it to us. Thank you, bye," Shiro said, cringing at the sound of his own voice. Despite Katie trying to drill math, science, and communications into the team's heads, Shiro still felt like he wasn't good at any of it. Granted, no one really left actual voice messages on Earth, these days, but apparently it was popular among aliens since translators worked better with spoken rather than written words.

 **Transition goes here**

When Katie spoke, she only paused to breathe. " _I found Keith. Well, I think I did, since their number was between mine and Dad's so unless they're number got recycled or whatever it_ has _to be Keith. Even if the species is weird, since it was listed as - I think that says half-breed, which in addition to the whole eww major racism that honestly isn't surprising given the Galra, it says afterwards half-human-half-Galra, which is just."_ When she resumed speaking, her voice gradually increased in volume. " _How? Did they figure out how to change a person's DNA. If so, how long ago was that? Did the Galra attempt something like that on me? Then again, the pods would have noticed if there were significant genetic changes between me and the others, unless Allura and Coran thought that it was a common difference between human adults and human teenagers - and in this case yes Matt if you're listening in and I didn't get around to deleting this you're a teenager. Eighteen and nineteen are legally adults, but it's technically closer to teenager than being in my twenties._

" _But what if they've always been half-Galra? Did they know? Could they have - no, that's crazy. They were as scared and confused as Dad and I were when we were captured, if I'm remembering right. They're a terrible liar, and when Dad was trying to reassure us that we could escape that hellhole they would have spoken up and told us just how low our chances were. Besides, Kerberos was_ my _fault and I need to stop shifting the fucking blame!"_

"Wait, what the? Pause!" Shiro said. Everyone's eyes were wide as Matt scrambled to stop the recording.

" _I need to delete that,"_ Katie managed to say before he could hit pause.

"Did I hear that right, or did she just say that Kerberos was her fault?" Lance asked, first to find the strength to speak after her admission of blame.

"Kerberos, that was the name of the planet where the Galra kidnapped her, right?" Allura asked.

"Moon, but yeah," Matt said. "She… she never said anything like that to us."

"Of course she didn't," Hunk said. "Let's face it, she tried to hide her PTSD and exactly why she was so sleep-deprived all the time from us, and she tried to keep us from knowing that she was sleeping in her armor. And it's not like it's just something that's because she went through hell and back - she didn't tell you and your parents that she was dating Keith."

"I know," Matt said, frowning. "I just thought that we got _past_ that." He paused before looking at the group. "All of us, not just because she's my sister."

"When we get her back," Lance said, "we're going to have a serious talk with her. We need to be able to trust her since she's the leader, and now she's constantly talking about deleting her recordings and n"


End file.
